Pret A Manger/ˈprɛtəˈmɑːnʒeɪ/ is an international sandwich shop chain based in the United Kingdom, commonly referred to simply as "Pret".[2] Founded in 1983, Pret currently has approximately 500 shops in nine countries.

Jeffrey Hyman[3] founded the first Pret a Manger in London on 21 October 1983. The first Pret A Manger shop opened in Hampstead, London, in 1984.[4][5] The name Prêt à Manger (French pronunciation: ​[pʁɛt‿a mɑ̃ʒe], ready to eat) was based on prêt-à-porter, French for "ready-to-wear" clothing.

This original Pret A Manger was located opposite Hampstead Underground station, had its own kitchen, and offered ready-to-eat freshly made natural food, filled baguettes, Croque-monsieur and other ready-to-go convenience foods.

Opening in June 1983, the company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for eighteen months[6] at which time takings had dropped to below break-even point and the company went into liquidation. The name was purchased from the company liquidator David Rubin by college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe.[7]

Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham started a new operation, but using the Pret A Manger name purchased from the former companies liquidator.[8] They opened their first shop of the new Pret A Manger in July 1986, located at 75b Victoria Street in London. Beecham and Metcalfe had met while studying at University.[9]

The pair pioneered the chain's menu of handmade natural food, freshly prepared in shop kitchens, and they are still significant shareholders in the company.[10] The iconic logo was created by Adrian Kilby, founder of The Formation Creative Consultants Europe Ltd in the 1990s.

In 1995 Metcalfe and Beecham set up the Pret Foundation Trust with the aim to alleviate poverty in the UK.[11] The Trust receives donations from the sale of products and collection boxes in shops. The donations fund Pret's "Charity Run" vans which deliver unsold food to homeless shelters at the end of each day.[12]

The first shop outside of London was opened on Broad Street, New York in 2000.[11] In 2016 there were 74 Pret shops in the United States.[13]

The company emphasises the use of natural ingredients and advertises that its sandwiches are made on the day of purchase in a kitchen at each location (with the stated exception of a few small outlets). Food left unsold at the end of the day is collected by charities. Sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic.[19] 67% of its trade is in London, where around three-quarters of its stores are located. Locations include:

Boston, Massachusetts: 6 outlets, as of April 2016. Two stores opened in December 2012, in the Back Bay and Financial District.[20] In June 2014, Pret opened its largest American location in Boston's Downtown Crossing neighborhood. This location stands at 5,335 square feet and can seat 100 people.[21]

In 1998, the company employed 1,400 people, of whom 19% were from the UK and 60% were from other European Union countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. Pret A Manger employs one in every 14 applicants. Applicants go on a one-day experience day at a shop and their success is determined by the other staff members, who vote the applicant in or not. Many managers and senior executives have come from within the company.[24]

The organisational structure of Pret A Manger is divided between its stores and the main offices. The London head office is the hub for the UK stores, while the office in New York City is the hub for the American stores.[25] Each store contains levels of positions that range from Team Member to the General Manager of the store.[26] Above the in-store manager is the Operations Manager who is in charge of a group of roughly 10 stores, and above that are more senior management positions based out of the offices that are tasked with coordinating an entire region and maintaining communication with the company’s CEO in London.[25] All the office employees are paired with a "buddy shop" where they work at least two days a year.[27]

While the uppermost levels of management are located in the offices, not all the office jobs are above the store jobs in the organizational structure. Orders do not strictly flow from the head offices in a top-down manner; instead, the channel of communication between the executives and the stores is open in both directions.[28]

Pret a Manger promotes an internal culture as described in a leaflet entitled "Pret Behaviours". The Behaviours break down traits into three categories: passion, clear talking and team working – and identify specific behaviours as "Don’t want to see", "Want to see", and "Pret perfect!"[29] The number of Behaviours Pret hopes an employee exhibits increases with one's rank within the company: Team Members should practise around six Behaviours, Managers ten, and the company’s executives all of them.[30]

Pret A Manger has been cited as being particularly vigorous in extracting affective labour from its employees.[31] Affective labour (or emotional labour)[32] is work which involves manipulating a person's emotional state.

Pret A Manger demands go beyond traditional requirements for fast-food workers (such as courtesy, efficiency, and reliability) to such tasks as having "presence", demonstrating a quirky sense of fun, and exhibiting behaviour consistent with being inwardly happy with oneself.[33] Pret A Manger uses mystery shoppers to ensure that employees deploy markers of a positive emotional state.[31][34] Employees who exhibit markers of latent sadness are punished with aggressive zeal.[31][34] This has led to some criticism of the company for over-reaching[31][32][35] while drawing praise from right-wing commentators and other business owners for its business practices.[34][36]

In response to labour issues within the company, the Pret A Manger Staff Union was established in 2012 as an independent union with its principal demand being made around calls for a Living Wage.[37] Andrej Stopa, the founder of the union, was later sacked from his Pret branch.[38][39]

^ abcRainey, Clint (2017-05-10). "Americans May Soon Be Seeing a Lot More Pret a Mangers". grubstreet.com. New York Media LLC. Retrieved 2017-06-02. It has about 30 more U.S. stores in Chicago, Boston, and D.C., and a Wall Street debut could mean a higher valuation for the company, given England’s bad market right now.

1.
Retail
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Retail markets and shops have a very ancient history, dating back to antiquity. Retailing involves the process of selling goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand is identified through a supply chain, Once the strategic retail plan is in place, retailers devise the retail mix which includes product, price, place, promotion, personnel and presentation. In the digital age, a number of retailers are seeking to reach broader markets by selling through multiple channels. Digital technologies are changing the way that consumers pay for goods. Retailing support services may include the provision of credit, delivery services. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products, sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing, sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing, it not always result in a purchase. Retail shops occur in a range of types and in many different contexts - from strip shopping centres in residential streets through to large. Shopping streets may restrict traffic to pedestrians only, forms of non-shop retailing include online retailing and mail order. Retail comes from the Old French word tailler, which means to cut off, clip, pare and it was first recorded as a noun with the meaning of a sale in small quantities in 1433. Like in French, the retail in both Dutch and German also refers to the sale of small quantities of items. Also see History of merchants, History of the market place, open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria. These markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre, surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers, occupied premises in alley ways that led to the open market-place. These artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, in ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum. In antiquity, exchange involved direct selling, merchants or peddlers, the Phoenicians, noted for their seafaring skills, plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE. The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles, glass and produce such as wine, oil, dried fruit, the Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence. In around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet which was much easier to learn that the complex scripts used in ancient Egypt

2.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years

4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

5.
Sandwich
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The sandwich began as a portable finger food in the Western world, though over time it has become prevalent worldwide. Sandwiches are a type of lunch food, taken to work, school. The bread can be plain, or coated with condiments such as mayonnaise or mustard, to enhance its flavour. As well as being homemade, sandwiches are widely sold in restaurants. There are both savoury sandwiches, such as deli sandwiches, and sweet sandwiches, such as a peanut butter. The sandwich is considered to be the namesake of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, the Wall Street Journal has described it as Britains biggest contribution to gastronomy. The modern concept of a sandwich using slices of bread can arguably be traced to 18th-century Europe, flat breads of only slightly varying kinds have long been used to scoop or wrap small amounts of food en route from platter to mouth throughout Western Asia and northern Africa. From Morocco to Ethiopia to India, bread is baked in flat rounds, during the Middle Ages in Europe, thick slabs of coarse and usually stale bread, called trenchers, were used as plates. After a meal, the food-soaked trencher was fed to a dog or to beggars at the tables of the wealthy, initially perceived as food that men shared while gaming and drinking at night, the sandwich slowly began appearing in polite society as a late-night meal among the aristocracy. It was at the time that the European-style sandwich finally began to appear outside of Europe. In the United States, the sandwich was first promoted as a meal at supper. By the early 20th century, as became a staple of the American diet. The first written usage of the English word appeared in Edward Gibbons journal, in longhand and it was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread, and others began to order the same as Sandwich. The rumour in its form appeared in Pierre-Jean Grosleys Londres, translated as A Tour to London in 1772. Before being known as sandwiches, this food combination seems to simply have been known as bread and meat or bread, in the United States, a court in Boston, Massachusetts ruled in 2006 that a sandwich includes at least two slices of bread. In Spain, where the sandwich is borrowed from the English language. It is otherwise known as a bocadillo, similar usage applies in other Spanish-speaking cultures, such as Mexico, where the word torta is also used for a popular variety of roll-type sandwiches

6.
Salad
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A salad is a dish consisting of a mixture of small pieces of food, which may be mixed with a sauce or salad dressing. They are typically served cold, although some, such as south German potato salad, are served warm, salads may contain vegetables, fruits, cheese, cooked meat, eggs, grains and nuts. Garden salads use a base of leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, kale or spinach, other types include bean salad, tuna salad, fattoush, Greek salad, and Japanese sōmen salad. The sauce used to flavor a salad is commonly called a salad dressing, well-known types include ranch, Thousand Island, vinaigrette comes in many varieties, one version is a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and seasonings. Salads may be served at any point during a meal, such as, Appetizer salads, light, side salads, to accompany the main course as a side dish. Main course salads, usually containing a portion of heartier fare, such as chicken breast, dessert salads, sweet versions containing fruit, gelatin, sweeteners or whipped cream, or just fruit, which is called a fruit salad. The word salad comes from the French salade of the meaning, from the Latin salata. In English, the word first appears as salad or sallet in the 14th century, salt is associated with salad because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times. The Romans and ancient Greeks ate mixed greens with dressing, in his 1699 book, Acetaria, A Discourse on Sallets, John Evelyn attempted with little success to encourage his fellow Britons to eat fresh salad greens. Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over greens covered with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, oil used on salads can be found in the 17th century colony of New Netherland. Curaçao Papers page 234 In a 1653 inventory in New Netherland dressing can be found, council Minutes Volume V, page 78 The United States popularized mixed greens salads in the late 19th century. Salads including layered and dressed salads were popular in Europe since Greek imperial, several other regions of the world adopted salads throughout the second half of the 20th century. From Europe and the Americas to China, Japan, and Australia, salads are sold in supermarkets, at restaurants, in the US market, restaurants will often have a Salad Bar laid out with salad-making ingredients, which the customers will use to put together their salad. Salad restaurants were earning more than $300 million in 2014, a green salad or garden salad is most often composed of leafy vegetables such as lettuce varieties, spinach, or rocket. The salad leaves may be cut or torn into bite-sized fragments and tossed together and they are often adorned with garnishes such as nuts or croutons. A wedge salad is made from a head of lettuce halved or quartered, vegetables other than greens may be used in a salad. Common raw vegetables used in a salad include cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, red onions, carrots, celery, a bound salad can be composed or tossed. They are assembled with thick sauces such as mayonnaise, one portion of a true bound salad will hold its shape when placed on a plate with an ice-cream scoop

7.
Sushi
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Sushi is the Japanese preparation and serving of cooked vinegared rice combined with varied ingredients, chiefly seafood, vegetables, meat, and occasionally tropical fruits. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the key ingredient in all cases is the rice, sushi can be prepared with either brown or white rice. It is often prepared with raw seafood, but some varieties of sushi use cooked ingredients. Sushi is often served with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce, daikon radish is popular as a garnish. Sushi is often confused with sashimi, a related Japanese dish consisting of sliced raw meat or fish. Sashimi is served as slices, unlike sushi, which as served as rolls, sushi originates in a Southeast Asian dish, known today as nare-zushi - salted fish, stored in fermented rice for possibly months at a time. The lacto-fermentation of the rice prevented the fish from spoiling, the rice would be discarded for consumption and this early type of sushi became an important source of protein for its Japanese consumers. The term sushi comes from a grammatical form no longer used in other contexts, and literally means sour-tasting. Narezushi is still made in Japan to this day, contemporary sushi generally bears only a vague resemblance to its predecessor. Funazushi, a strongly-flavoured and odoured narezushi made near Lake Biwa in Japan, vinegar began to be added to the preparation of narezushi in the Muromachi period for the sake of enhancing both taste and preservation. In addition to increasing the rices sourness, the significantly increased the dishs longevity, causing the fermentation process to be shortened. The primitive sushi would be furthered developed in Osaka, where over several centuries it became oshi-zushi, in this preparation and this practice reached Edo by the 18th century. It was in Edo that contemporary sushi was created by Hanaya Yohei at the end of period. Hanayas version was a precursor to fast food, by avoiding all fermentation, the dish could be prepared therefore very quickly, portion sizes shrank to roughly a third of the previous norm to further accommodate this principle. However, there is a mention of sushi in James Hepburns Japanese-English dictionary from 1873. The common ingredient in all types of sushi is vinegared sushi rice, fillings, toppings, condiments, and preparation vary widely. Note that due to rendaku consonant mutation, sushi is spelled with a z instead of an s whenever a prefix is attached, chirashizushi serves the rice in a bowl and tops it with a variety of raw fish and vegetable garnishes. It is commonly eaten because it is filling, fast and easy to make and it is eaten annually on Hinamatsuri in March

8.
Soup
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Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot, that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, traditionally, soups are classified into two main groups, clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé, other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include egg, rice, lentils, flour, and grains, many popular soups also include carrots and potatoes. Soups are similar to stews, and in some there may not be a clear distinction between the two, however, soups generally have more liquid than stews. Evidence of the existence of soup can be found as far back as about 20,000 BC, boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers. Animal hides and watertight baskets of bark or reeds were used before this, to boil the water hot rocks were used. This method was used to cook acorns and other plants. The word soup comes from French soupe, which comes through Vulgar Latin suppa from a Germanic source, from which comes the word sop. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in such soups and this prompted the use of the modern word restaurant for the eating establishments. A1772 cookbook, The Frugal Housewife, contained a chapter on the topic. English cooking dominated early colonial cooking, but as new immigrants arrived from other countries, in particular, German immigrants living in Pennsylvania were famous for their potato soups. In 1794, Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, a refugee from the French Revolution, opened an establishment in Boston called The Restorator. The first American cooking pamphlet dedicated to soup recipes was written in 1882 by Emma Ewing, Soups, portable soup was devised in the 18th century by boiling seasoned meat until a thick, resinous syrup was left that could be dried and stored for months at a time. Commercial soup became popular with the invention of canning in the 19th century, doctor John T. Dorrance, a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company, invented condensed soup in 1897. Today, Campbells Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, and Chicken Noodle Soup are three of the most popular soups in America, americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year. Canned soup can be condensed, in case it is prepared by adding water, or it can be ready-to-eat. Canned soup can be prepared by heating in a pan, on the stovetop or in the microwave, such soups can be used as a base for homemade soups, with the consumer adding anything from a few vegetables to eggs, meat, cream or pasta. Condensing soup allows soup to be packaged into a smaller can, the soup is usually doubled in volume by adding a can full of water or milk

9.
Coffee
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Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant. The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa, and Madagascar, the two most commonly grown are the highly regarded arabica, and the less sophisticated but stronger and more hardy robusta. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried, dried coffee seeds are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and brewed with boiling water to produce coffee as a beverage. Coffee is slightly acidic and can have an effect on humans because of its caffeine content. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and it can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways. It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is also served, the earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a way to how it is now prepared. Coffee seeds were first exported from East Africa to Yemen, as the coffea arabica plant is thought to have been indigenous to the former, yemeni traders took coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the seed. By the 16th century, it had reached Persia, Turkey, from there, it spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Coffee is an export commodity, it is the top agricultural export for numerous countries and is among the worlds largest legal agricultural exports. It is one of the most valuable commodities exported by developing countries, green coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Consequently, the markets for fair trade coffee and organic coffee are expanding. The first reference to coffee in the English language is in the form chaona, dated to 1598 and understood to be a misprint of chaoua, equivalent, in the orthography of the time, to chaova. This term and coffee both derive from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, by way of the Italian caffè and it has also been proposed that the source may be the Proto-Central Semitic root q-h-h meaning dark. Alternatively, the word Khat, a plant widely used as stimulant in Yemen and Ethiopia before being supplanted by coffee has been suggested as a possible origin, the expression coffee break was first attested in 1952. The term coffee pot dates from 1705, other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to the ancient chronicle, Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was exiled from Mocha in Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab

10.
Snack
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A snack is a portion of food, smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged foods and other processed foods. Traditionally, snacks are prepared from ingredients commonly available in the home, often cold cuts, fruits, leftovers, nuts, sandwiches, and the like are used as snacks. The Dagwood sandwich was originally the result of a cartoon characters desire for large snacks. With the spread of convenience stores, packaged snack foods became a significant business, snack foods are typically designed to be portable, quick, and satisfying. Processed snack foods, as one form of food, are designed to be less perishable, more durable. They often contain amounts of sweeteners, preservatives, and appealing ingredients such as chocolate, peanuts. Beverages, such as coffee, are not generally considered snacks though they may be consumed along with or in lieu of snack foods, a snack eaten shortly before going to bed or during the night may be called a night snack. In the United States, the first snack food was the peanut, peanuts first arrived from South America via slave ships, and became incorporated into African-inspired cooking on southern plantations. After the Civil War, the taste for peanuts spread north, along with popcorn, snacks bore the stigma of being sold by unhygienic street vendors. The middle-class etiquette of the Victorian era categorized any food that did not require proper usage of utensils as lower-class, pretzels were introduced to North America by the Dutch via New Amsterdam in the 17th century. In the 1860s, the snack was still associated with immigrants, unhygienic street vendors, due to loss of business during the Prohibition era, pretzels underwent rebranding to make them more appealing to the public. Packaging revolutionized snack foods, allowing sellers to reduce contamination risk while making it easy to advertise brands with a logo, pretzels boomed in popularity, bringing many other types of snack foods with it. By the 1950s, snacking had become a pastime, becoming an internationally recognized emblem of middle American life. Healthy snacks include those that have significant vitamins, are low in saturated fat and added sugars, a 2010 study showed that children in the United States snacked on average six times per day, approximately twice as often as American children in the 1970s. This represents consumption of roughly 570 calories more per day than U. S. children consumed in the 1970s, America, just one long snack bar. Wikibooks Cookbook – A collection of recipes from around the world

11.
Earnings before interest and taxes
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In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes, is a measure of a firms profit that includes all expenses except interest and income tax expenses. It is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses, when a firm does not have non-operating income, then operating income is sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT and operating profit. To calculate EBIT, expenses are subtracted from revenues, net income is later obtained by subtracting interest and taxes from the result

12.
Bridgepoint Capital
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Bridgepoint is a pan-European private equity investor focused on acquiring leading middle market businesses valued up to €1 billion. Recent investments have included the Azzurri Group, Element Materials Technology and Pret a Manger in the UK, Dorna in Spain, Balt, eFront and it also operates a second business, Bridgepoint Development Capital, which specialises in smaller cap businesses valued up to €150 million. Bridgepoint was known as NatWest Equity Partners until a management buyout in May 2000, in March 2015 Bridgepoint closed its latest €4 billion Bridgepoint Europe V fund, bringing to €20.5 billion the amount of committed capital raised to date. List of companies based in London Official website Recommendation for Investment in Bridgepoint Europe IV, PSERS PRIVATE INVESTMENT PROGRAM, December 12,2007

13.
Hampstead
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Hampstead, commonly known as Hampstead Village, is an area of London, England,4 miles northwest of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath and it has some of the most expensive housing in the London area. The village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any area of the United Kingdom. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon words ham and stede, which means, and is a cognate of, the growth of Hampstead is generally traced back to the 17th century. Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the waters in 1700. Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the 1800s due to competition with other fashionable London spas, the spa was demolished in 1882, although a water fountain was left behind. Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s, in the area that is now the ward of Frognal & Fitzjohns. Much of this remains to this day. The large Victorian Hampstead Library and Town Hall was recently converted and extended as a creative industries centre, on 14 August 1975 Hampstead entered the UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm. As of November 2008 this record remains, Hampstead became part of the County of London in 1889 and in 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was formed. The borough town hall on Haverstock Hill, which was also the location of the Register Office, Hampstead is part of the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, formed at the 2010 general election. It was formerly part of the Hampstead and Highgate constituency, since May 2015 the area has been represented on Camden Council by Conservative Party councillors Tom Currie, Oliver Cooper and Stephen Stark. The area has a significant tradition of educated liberal humanism, often referred to as Hampstead Liberalism, michael Idov of The New Yorker stated that the community was the citadel of the moneyed liberal intelligentsia, posh but not stuffy. As applied to an individual, the term Hampstead Liberal is not synonymous with champagne socialist, the term is also rather misleading. As of 2016, all the component wards of Hampstead elect a full slate of Conservative councillors, the bridge pictured is known locally as The Red Arches or The Viaduct, built in fruitless anticipation of residential building on the Heath in the 19th century. The largest employer in Hampstead is the Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, George Martins AIR recording studios, in converted church premises in Lyndhurst Road, is a current example, as Jim Hensons Creature Shop was before it relocated to California. It was recently restored by Notting Hill Housing Trust, notable and longstanding are La Gaffe, Gaucho Grill, Jin Kichi, Tip Top Thai, Villa Bianca and, in May 2016, Patara. Hampsteads rural feel lends itself for use on film, an example being The Killing of Sister George starring Beryl Reid

14.
Pret a Manger
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Pret a Manger /ˈprɛt ə ˈmɑːnʒeɪ/ is a sandwich shop chain based in the United Kingdom. Pret A Manger was founded by Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham and they opened their first Pret A Manger shop in July 1986, located at 173 Victoria Street in London. Beecham and Metcalfe met while studying at University and their company claims they created the sort of food they craved but could not find anywhere else. The name, from the French prêt à manger, meaning ‘ready to eat’, was inspired by a French delicatessen Metcalfe, the pair pioneered Pret’s menu of freshly made natural food and are still significant shareholders in the company 30 years on. In 2001, McDonalds bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the USA branch of the company, in 2011, its sales were £377 million. The menu includes sandwiches, baguettes, pots and desserts, cold drinks, hot drinks, crisps and bakery items, as well as sushi, salads, soups, and cakes. The company emphasises the use of ingredients and advertises all sandwiches are made on the day of purchase in a kitchen at each location. Food left unsold at the end of the day is collected by charities, sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic. 67% of its trade is in London, where around three-quarters of its stores are located, as of February 2014, there were 289 UK shops,187 in London, nine in Scotland and two in Wales. There are 92 outlets throughout the rest of the UK, as of April 2016 Pret has expanded to New York, Hong Kong, Washington, D. C. Unlike many other fast food outlets, Pret a Manger does not franchise, Hong Kong,19 outlets, as of November 2016. New York,43 outlets, as of April 2016, chicago,8 outlets, as of April 2016. Washington, D. C.9 outlets, as of April 2016, shanghai,1 outlet, as of October 2014. Paris,14 outlets, as of April 2016, the first outlet in France opened on 9 January 2012. The shop was opened in La Défense a major district of the Paris aire urbaine. Boston,6 outlets, as of April 2016, two stores opened in December 2012, in the Back Bay and Financial District. In June 2014, Pret opened its largest American location in Bostons Downtown Crossing neighborhood and this location stands at 5,335 square feet and can seat 100 people. Nice,1 outlet, as of April 2016, Dubai,1 outlet, as of March 2016

15.
McDonald's
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McDonalds is an American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain. It was founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard. In 1948, they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand, the first McDonalds franchise using the arches logo opened in Phoenix, Arizona in 1953. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as an agent in 1955. Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, McDonalds confirmed plans to move its headquarters to Chicago by early 2018. Today, McDonalds is one of the worlds largest restaurant chains, McDonalds primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies. A McDonalds restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, the McDonalds Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to a BBC report published in 2012, McDonalds is the second largest private employer,1.5 million of whom work for franchises. The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, the first McDonalds with the arches opened in Phoenix, Arizona in March 1953. The original mascot of McDonalds was a man with a hat on top of a hamburger-shaped head whose name was Speedee. In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the company symbol, a new mascot, Ronald McDonald was introduced in 1965. The clown-like man having puffed out costume legs served advertising aimed at children. On May 4,1961, McDonalds first filed for a U. S. trademark on the name McDonalds with the description Drive-In Restaurant Services, on September 13,1961, the company filed for a trademark on a new logo—an overlapping, double-arched M symbol. By September 6,1962, this M-symbol was temporarily disfavored, although the Golden Arches logo appeared in various forms, the present version as a letter M did not appear until November 18,1968, when the company applied for a U. S. trademark. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers equity in the company and led its expansion. Kroc was also noted for aggressive business practices, compelling the McDonald brothers to leave the fast-food industry, Kroc and the McDonald brothers feuded over control of the business, as documented in Krocs autobiography. The San Bernardino restaurant was demolished in 1976 and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo restaurant chain and this area now serves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, as well as a McDonalds and Route 66 museum

16.
Private equity
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In finance, private equity is a type of equity and one of the asset classes consisting of equity securities and debt in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange. A private equity investment will generally be made by an equity firm. Bloomberg Businessweek has called private equity a rebranding of leveraged-buyout firms after the 1980s, common investment strategies in private equity include, leveraged buyouts, venture capital, growth capital, distressed investments and mezzanine capital. In a typical leveraged-buyout transaction, a private-equity firm buys majority control of an existing or mature firm and this is distinct from a venture-capital or growth-capital investment, in which the investors invest in young, growing or emerging companies, and rarely obtain majority control. Private equity is often grouped into a broader category called private capital, generally used to describe capital supporting any long-term. The strategies private equity firms may use are as follows, leveraged buyout being the most important, the companies involved in these transactions are typically mature and generate operating cash flows. Leveraged buyouts involve a financial sponsor agreeing to an acquisition without itself committing all the capital required for the acquisition, to do this, the financial sponsor will raise acquisition debt which ultimately looks to the cash flows of the acquisition target to make interest and principal payments. Acquisition debt in an LBO is often non-recourse to the sponsor and has no claim on other investments managed by the financial sponsor. Historically the debt portion of a LBO will range from 60%–90% of the purchase price, between 2000–2005 debt averaged between 59. 4% and 67. 9% of total purchase price for LBOs in the United States. A private equity fund say for example, ABC Capital II, to this it adds $2bn of equity – money from its own partners and from limited partners. With this $11bn it buys all the shares of an underperforming company and it replaces the senior management in XYZ Industrial, and they set out to streamline it. The workforce is reduced, some assets are sold off, etc, the objective is to increase the value of the company for an early sale. The stock market is experiencing a market, and XYZ Industrial is sold two years after the buy-out for $13bn, yielding a profit of $2bn. The original loan can now be paid off with interest of say $0. 5bn, the remaining profit of $1. 5bn is shared among the partners. Taxation of such gains is at capital gains rates, notes, The lenders can insure against default by syndicating the loan to spread the risk, or by buying credit default swaps or selling collateralised debt obligations from/to other institutions. Often the loan/equity is not paid off after sale but left on the books of the company for it to pay off over time and this can be advantageous since the interest is typically offsettable against the profits of the company, thus reducing, or even eliminating, tax. Most buyout deals are much smaller, the average purchase in 2013 was $89m. The target company does not have to be floated on the stockmarket, buy-out operations can go wrong and in such cases the loss is increased by leverage, just as the profit is if all goes well

17.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously

18.
Utrecht Centraal railway station
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Utrecht Centraal is the central railway station for the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is the largest and busiest railway station in the Netherlands, with sixteen platforms, therefore, disruptions at the station can easily affect the rest of the countrys railway network. The first station at the site was opened on December 18,1843, in 1938, the station became the central station as the Maliebaanstation, on the other side of the city, was closed and the line from Hilversum was diverted into the central station. Until the 1970s the station building of 1865 remained in place, two years later, a fire burned down most of the building, which was subsequently rebuilt. That station building of the late 1930s was in turn demolished in the 1970s to make way for Hoog Catharijne, then Europes largest enclosed shopping mall, which opened on 17 December 1973. Since that moment, the station no longer had a real entrance. In 1989, the hall was enlarged to include an extra platform. Between 2008 and 2016, the station is undergoing a reconstruction, as part of a general reconstruction of the Utrecht Station Area. A scale model of the new station has been displayed at Madurodam, one next to the station at the city centre side and the other on the western side, including a tram stop. Bus services are operated by Qbuzz under the brand U-OV, Connexxion, thousands of bicycles clog the area, at almost any time. This not only creates an eyesore, but is also affecting pedestrian traffic, to address the problem, the City Council decided in 2014 to build the worlds largest bicycle parking station, near the Central Railway Station. This 3-floor construction will cost an estimated 48 million Euros and will hold 12,500 bicycles, media related to Utrecht Central station at Wikimedia Commons NS website Dutch Public Transport journey planner

19.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls

20.
Paperboard
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Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a grammage above 224 g/m2, Paperboard can be single- or multi-ply. Paperboard can be cut and formed, is lightweight. Another end-use would be graphic printing, such as book and magazine covers or postcards, sometimes it is referred to as cardboard, which is a generic, lay term used to refer to any heavy paper pulp–based board. Paperboard is also used in fine arts for creating sculptures, in 1817, the first paperboard carton was produced in England. Folding cartons first emerged around the 1860s and were shipped flat to save space,1879 saw the development of mechanical die cutting and creasing of blanks. In 1911 the first kraft sulphate mill was built in Florida and in 1915 the gable top milk carton was patented, ovenable paperboard was introduced in 1974. Terminology and classifications of paperboard are not always uniform, differences occur depending on specific industry, locale, and personal choice. It is the covering over the corrugating medium. Other Binders board – a paperboard used in bookbinding for making hardcovers, pulp board are produced on pulping machines that can handle higher grammage and several plies. The above-mentioned fibrous material can come from fresh sources or from recycled waste paper. Around 90% of virgin paper is made from wood pulp and it is now mandatory in many countries for paper-based packaging to be manufactured wholly or partially from recycled material. Raw materials include, Hardwood, Ca.0.05 inches in length e. g. Birch which has short fibres and it is generally more difficult to work with, however, it does provide higher tensile strength, but lower tear and other strength properties. Although its fibres are not as long and strong as those in softwood, Hardwood fibres fill the sheet better and therefore make a smoother paper that is more opaque and better for printing. Hardwood makes an excellent corrugating medium, softwood, Ca.0.13 inches in length e. g. Pine and spruce which have typically long fibres and make superior paperboard in services where strength is important. Recycled, Used paper is collected and sorted and usually mixed with virgin fibres in order to new material. This is necessary as the recycled fibre often loses strength when reused, mixed waste paper is not usually deinked for paperboard manufacture and hence the pulp may contain traces of inks, adhesives, and other residues which together give it a grey colour

21.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies

22.
Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days

23.
Downtown Crossing
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Downtown Crossing is a shopping district that is a small part of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located due east of Boston Common and west of the Financial District. It features large department stores as well as restaurants, souvenir sellers, general retail establishments, the section of Washington Street between Temple and Bromfield streets are closed to most vehicular traffic, pedestrians may walk freely in the street. Since the early 1900s, the area along Washington and Tremont Streets, the side streets between the two main thoroughfares look like the rungs of a ladder when viewed on a map, hence the name. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Summer Street was a neighborhood, with townhouses designed by Charles Bulfinch. The Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed much of the neighborhood, following the success of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston decided to redevelop the Washington Street area into a pedestrian-only mall, which was unveiled in 1979. At first, foot traffic and business in the area declined, between 1895 and 1917, Downtown Crossing became the hub of department store shopping in Boston. In 1841, Eben Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh opened the first Jordan Marsh store as wholesalers, another major store, Filenes, was founded in 1881. Originally known as William Filenes Sons Co. the store expanded, gilchrist and Kennedys also opened in the neighborhood, though both are now defunct. These stores attracted more visitors, including those from the suburbs. Nationwide, downtown department stores faced challenges after World War II due to suburbanization and competition from big box stores, Filenes Basement would go on to become a major department store independent of Filenes. The flagship store of Filenes Basement was located underground, in the basement of the former Filenes department store, the two stores, formerly under the same ownership, were disassociated in 1988. The building housing the two stores was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, during the Winter Season Filenes would hold a Christmas tree lighting and Jordan Marsh would present a series festive Christmas window displays known as the Enchanted Village. The window display has since relocated to Bostons Hynes Convention Center, the area is experiencing more growth due to new luxury hotel and condominium additions. In 2001, Millennium Place was completed, the luxury towers rise to 38 stories and 36 stories. In 1996, the former Jordan Marsh store became Macys, in 2006, Vornado Realty Trust announced the purchase of the former Filenes site for $100m. The project is expected to cost around $620 million and the project would be filled with upscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, the plan calls for a 38-story tower that will rise to 495 feet. However, the left by Filenes has left the building to be redeveloped. Filenes Basement has been closed for the duration of construction, but has vowed to return upon the completion of construction, as of September 2011, Filenes Basement is still closed

24.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage

25.
Dubai
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Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the countrys legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the northern coastline. Dubai will host World Expo 2020, Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubais economy was based on revenues from trade and, to an extent, oil exploration concessions. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969, Dubais oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low, today, less than 5% of the emirates revenue comes from oil. The emirates Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, Dubai was recently named the best destination for Muslim travellers by Salam Standard. Dubai has recently attracted attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the worlds tallest building, Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the citys largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. As of 2012, Dubai was the 22nd most expensive city in the world, in 2014, Dubais hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world, after Geneva. Dubai was rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East by U. S. global consulting firm Mercer, Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word Dubai. One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, another theory states that the name came from a word meaning money, as people from Dubai were commonly believed to be rich due to the thriving trading centre of the location. An Arabic proverb says Daba Dubai, meaning They came with a lot of money, according to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAEs history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, an inhabitant or native of the city is a Dubaian. Although stone tools have been found at archaeological sites, little is known about the UAEs early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds, the remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries

26.
Dubai International Airport
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Dubai International Airport is the primary airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates and is the worlds busiest airport by international passenger traffic. In 2016, DXB handled 83.6 million passengers,2.59 million tonnes of cargo, Dubai International is situated in the Al Garhoud district,2.5 nautical miles east of Dubai and spread over an area of 2,900 hectares of land. The airport is operated by the Dubai Airports Company and is the base of Dubais international airlines, Emirates. The Emirates hub is the largest airline hub in the Middle East, Emirates handles around 65% of all passenger traffic, Dubai Airport is also the base for low-cost carrier flydubai which handles 11. 6% of passenger traffic and 25% of aircraft movements at DXB. The airport consists of three terminals and has a capacity of 90 million passengers annually. Terminal 3 is the second largest building in the world by floor space, as of January 2016, there are over 7,700 weekly flights operated by 140 airlines to over 270 destinations across all six inhabited continents. The Empire Flying Boats also started operating once a week flying east to Karachi and west to Southampton, by February 1938, there were four flying boats a week. In the 1940s, flying from Dubai was by flying boats operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation, construction of the airport was ordered by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in 1959. It officially opened in 1960 with its first airfield, at time it was able to handle aircraft the size of a Douglas DC-3 on a 1,800 m long runway made of compacted sand. Three turning-areas, an apron and small terminal completed the airport that was constructed by Costain, in May 1963, construction of a 9,200 ft asphalt runway started. The installation of the system continued after official opening and was completed in August of that year. During the second half of the 1960s several extensions, equipment upgrades like a VHF omnidirectional range, by 1969, the airport was served by 9 airlines serving some 20 destinations. The inauguration was on 15 May 1966 and was marked by the visits of the first big jets of Middle East Airlines, the construction of a new terminal building consisting of a three-story building 110 m long and included an enclosed floor area of 13,400 m2. A new 28 m control tower was also constructed, expansion continued in the early 1970s including ILS Category II equipment, lengthening existing runway to 12,500 ft, installation of a non-directional beacon, diesel generators, taxiways, etc. This work made handling the Boeing 747 and Concorde possible, several runway and apron extensions were carried out through the decade to meet growing demand. 1971 saw the new precision category 2 Approach and Runway Lighting System being commissioned, the construction of the Airport Fire Station and the installation of the generators were completed in December of that year and was fully operational in March 1972. The ruler also commissioned and inaugurated the Long-range Surveillance System on 19 June 1973, with the expansion of the Airport Fire Services it was necessary to find more suitable accommodation and a hangar style building was made available to them at the end of 1976. This was located midway between the ends to facilitate efficient operations

27.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange

28.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland

29.
New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants

30.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing

31.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour

32.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing

33.
Singapore
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Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations

34.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

35.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government

36.
Copenhagen Airport
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Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, the entire Zealand, the Øresund Region, and a large part of southern Sweden. It is the largest airport in the Nordic countries with 29 million passengers in 2016 and it is the third-busiest airport in Northern Europe, and by far the busiest for international travel in Scandinavia. The airport is located on the island of Amager, just 8 kilometres south of Copenhagen city centre, the airport covers an area of 11.8 square kilometres. Most of the airport is situated in the municipality of Tårnby, the airport is the main hub out of three used by Scandinavian Airlines and is also an operating base for Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Copenhagen Airport handles around 60 scheduled airlines, and has a maximum operation capability of 83 operations/hour, unlike other Scandinavian airports, most of the airports passengers are international. In 2015,6. 1% of passengers travelled to and from other Danish airports,83. 5% to/from other European airports, the airport is owned by Københavns Lufthavne, which also operates Roskilde Airport. Copenhagen Airport was originally called Kastrup Airport, since it is located in the town of Kastrup. The formal name of the airport is still Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, to distinguish it from Roskilde Airport, whose name is Copenhagen Airport. The airport was inaugurated 20 April 1925 and was one of the first civil airports in the world. It consisted of a large, impressive terminal built of wood, a couple of hangars, a balloon mast, a landing stage. The grass on the runways was kept short by sheep, which were shepherded away before take-offs, from 1932 to 1939, takeoffs and landings increased from 6,000 to 50,000 and passenger number increased to 72,000. Between 1936 and 1939, a new terminal was built, considered one of the finest examples of Nordic functionalism. The terminal was designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen, who was considered a pioneer among architects, in not only of architecture and construction. In the years of World War II, the Copenhagen airport was closed for operations except for periodic flights to destinations in Sweden, Germany. In the summer of 1941 the first hard-surface runway opened and it was 1,400 metres long and 65 metres wide. When World War II ended in May 1945, the Copenhagen airport was the most modern airport in Europe. On 1 August 1947, Scandinavian Airlines was founded, an important event for the Copenhagen Airport, traffic increased rapidly in the first years Scandinavian Airlines operated. On 26 January 1947, a KLM Douglas DC-3 Dakota crashed at the airport after stopping en route to Stockholm,22 people on board died, including the Swedish prince Gustav Adolf and the American opera singer Grace Moore

37.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum

38.
Eastern Europe
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Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol

39.
The Economist
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The Economist is an English-language weekly magazine-format newspaper owned by the Economist Group and edited at offices in London. Continuous publication began under its founder, James Wilson, in September 1843, in 2015 its average weekly circulation was a little over 1.5 million, about half of which were sold in the United States. The publication belongs to the Economist Group and it is 50% owned by the English branch of the Rothschild family and by the Agnelli family through its holding company Exor. The remaining 50% is held by investors including the editors. The Rothschilds and the Agnellis are represented on the board of directors, a board of trustees formally appoints the editor, who cannot be removed without its permission. Although The Economist has an emphasis and scope, about two-thirds of the 75 staff journalists are based in the London borough of Westminster. For the year to March 2016 the Economist Group declared operating profit of £61m, previous major shareholders include Pearson PLC. The Economist takes a stance of classical and economic liberalism which is supportive of free trade, globalisation, free immigration. The publication has described itself as a product of the Caledonian liberalism of Adam Smith and it targets highly educated readers and claims an audience containing many influential executives and policy-makers. The publications CEO described this recent global change, which was first noticed in the 1990s and accelerated in the beginning of the 21st century, on the contents page of each issue, The Economists mission statement is written in italics. The Economist was founded by the British businessman and banker James Wilson in 1843, to advance the repeal of the Corn Laws, articles relating to some practical, commercial, agricultural, or foreign topic of passing interest, such as foreign treaties. An article on the principles of political economy, applied to practical experience, covering the laws related to prices, wages, rent, exchange, revenue. Parliamentary reports, with focus on commerce, agriculture and free trade. Reports and accounts of popular movements advocating free trade, general news from the Court of St. Jamess, the Metropolis, the Provinces, Scotland, and Ireland. Law reports, confined chiefly to areas important to commerce, manufacturing, books, confined chiefly, but not so exclusively, to commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture, and including all treatises on political economy, finance, or taxation. A commercial gazette, with prices and statistics of the week, correspondence and inquiries from the news magazines readers. It has long respected as one of the most competent. Its logo was designed in 1959 by Reynolds Stone, in January 2012 The Economist launched a new weekly section devoted exclusively to China, the first new country section since the introduction of a section about the United States in 1942

40.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946

41.
Types of restaurant
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Various types of restaurant fall into several industry classifications based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing. Additionally, how the food is served to the customer helps to determine the classification, historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one sat down to eat the meal, typically served by a waiter. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a retronym for the older standard restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Most commonly, sit-down restaurant refers to a dining restaurant with table service, rather than a fast food restaurant or a diner. Sit-down restaurants are often categorized, in North America, as family-style or formal. In British English, the restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table service. Fast food and takeaway outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants, outside of North-America, the terms fast casual dining restaurants, family style, and casual dining are not used and distinctions among different kinds of restaurants is often not the same. Others are called brasseries, a term which indicates hours of service, brasseries may serve food round the clock, whereas restaurants usually only serve at set intervals during the day. Any restaurant will be high or low in style and price, familiar or exotic in the cuisine it offers to different kinds of customers. Context is as important as the style and form, a taqueria is a more than familiar site in Guadalajara, Mexico, ethnic restaurants specialize in ethnic or national cuisines. For example, Greek restaurants specialize in Greek cuisine, fast food restaurants emphasize speed of service. Operations range from street vendors with food carts to multi-billion dollar corporations like McDonalds. Food is ordered not from the table, but from a front counter, diners typically then carry their own food from the counter to a table of their choosing, and afterward dispose of any waste from their trays. Drive-through and take-out service may also be available, fast food restaurants are known in the restaurant industry as QSRs or quick-service restaurants. Fast casual restaurants are primarily restaurants, such as Chipotle Mexican Grill. More of the food is prepared at the restaurant than is the case at fast food chains, fast casual restaurants usually do not offer full table service, but many offer non-disposable plates and cutlery. The quality of food and prices tend to be higher than those of a conventional fast food restaurant, a casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately-priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide table service, chain examples include Harvester in the United Kingdom and TGI Fridays in the United States

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Angus Steakhouse
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Angus Steakhouse is a restaurant chain of steak houses in central London. In 2001, there were about 30 outlets, six remain open as of January 2015, the name reflects Aberdeen Angus, a common breed of beef cattle. Some restaurants still retain the former trading name, Aberdeen Steak Houses, on their signage, Aberdeen Steak Houses was started in the early 1960s by Reginald Eastwood, who had started in business aged 15 as an apprentice butcher. Eastwoods vision was for a modern version of the earlier chop-house grills. The décor was opulent, with glass windows and red velour banquettes. Menus included trendy dishes like prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateau, the Good Food Guide of the 1960s listed the restaurants. Eastwood and partner Thomas Beale floated the company on 6 February 1964, in 1965, it was bought by Golden Egg cafeterias. By the 1970s, the group was focused more on tourist trade, Angus Steak Houses was a subsidiary of Aberdeen Steak Houses with the same business model. In the mid-1970s, the firm had an dispute with the TGWU. In 1984, the group was sold to Ali Salih, a Turkish businessman with a low public profile, the menu and décor showed little update since the 1960s, and the brand got a reputation as tourist traps for foreigners. Business remained strong through the 1980s and at its peak it had a turnover of £20m with 700,000 steaks sold. Its business, along with the wider UK beef industry, was hit in the 1990s by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, then by foot and it made a loss of £3m in 2000. In April 2001, Salih sold the sites of several branches for £4m, the decline in American tourists after the September 11 attacks was also cited by Salih after the group went into receivership in October 2002, with £7m in debt. At the time, it had 16 Angus Steak House outlets, six Aberdeen Steak House, administrators BDO and lawyers Berwin Leighton Paisner kept the firm trading as a going concern, though several of the sites were sold off to pay debts. In 2003, the remaining 21 outlets were bought by Noble Organisation, run by Michael and Philip Noble, in 2008, Noble told The Times they were upgrading and refurbishing the restaurants. Journalists have written of the low reputation, with dated menu and décor, poor quality food, inflated prices. Some have claimed not to anyone who has eaten there in decades, or at all, some have claimed never to have seen more than a few customers within. An undercover report broadcast in 2001 on ITVs Restaurants from Hell found mouse droppings in a tub of gravy in the Coventry Street branch

McDonald's was founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, …

Ray Kroc joined the chain in 1954 and built it into an eventually global franchise, making it the most successful fast food corporation in the world

By 1993, McDonald's had sold more than 100 billion hamburgers. The once widespread restaurant signs that boasted the number of sales, such as this one in Harlem, were left at "99 billion" because there was space for only two digits.

Private equity typically refers to investment funds organized as limited partnerships that are not publicly traded and …

Diagram of the basic structure of a generic leveraged buyout transaction

Diagram of the structure of a generic private equity fund

Diagram of a simple secondary market transfer of a limited partnership fund interest. The buyer exchanges a single cash payment to the seller for both the investments in the fund plus any unfunded commitments to the fund.